Ballast moving attachment for track tamping machines



Jan. 5, 1960 F. PLASSER ETAL BALLAST MOVING ATTACHMENT FOR TRACK TAMPING MACHINE ZS Filed April 1, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

vawvlmw 1960 F. PLASSER ETAL 2,919,656

BALLAST MOVING ATTACHMENT FOR TRACK TAMPING MACHINES Filed April 1, 1958 2 sheets-sheet 2 Unite States ISALLAST MOVING ATTACHMENT non TRACK TAMPING MACHINES Franz Plasser and Josef Theurer, Vienna, Austria Application April 1, 1958, Serial No. 725,599 Claims priority, application Austria April 11, 1957 3 Claims. (Cl. 104-10) ment for such machines for moving ballast to the tamping tools.

In conventional track tamping machines, the ballast is tamped either by pairs of opposing vibratory tamping tools which are placed over the tie, immersed in the ballast with the tie lying between the pairs of tools and forced together towards the tie while being simultaneously vibrated, or it is tamped by compressing the ballast from the top. In either case, tamping is effected under the tie primarily in the region of the rails while the ends and the middle of the tie rest rather loosely on the ballast to avoid s'o-cal'led riding of the ties and to prevent the ties from being subjected to uncontrollably high flexing or bending loads.

It has also been proposed to tanip the ballast only at the tie ends so that the ties are supported at their ends like crossbeams, which provides a more elastic support for the tracks.

Regardless of the manner and/ or the location of tamping, it has been found that the ballast under the constantly traveled tracks tends to be continuously and steadily displaced from the tamped regions, where it is densely packed, to the untamped regions. This is due to the constant pressure on the road bed which naturally forces the ballast to seek a pressure equilibrium and equal distribution throughout the bed When such a road bed is to be repaired and the ballast under the ties is to be tamped in the process of such repairs, there is usually not enough ballast under the ties to make proper tamping possible, some of the ballast having been laterally displaced into neighboring regions where the ballast was less compactly packed. Therefore, before the tamping operation can begin, it is necessary to move additional ballast into the region where the tracks rest on the ties. This has been done either by bringing fresh ballast to the tracks or by manually moving ballast from the regions of the bed where it is needed in smaller amounts to the regions of the bed which are to be tamped. Both methods are obviously very time-consuming and accordingly expensive. They have been found to be particularly uneconomical with modern, fully automatic track tampers which have an exceptionally high degree of efliciency.

It is the primary object of the present invention further to automatize track tamping machines and to add thereto another feature which makes such machines independent of any manual labor.

In accordance with this invention, a ballast moving device is mounted on a track tamping machine forwardly of its tamping tools and so arranged that it moves ballast backwardly into the region of the tracks which is to be tamped.

In track tamping machines comprising tamping tools adjacent each rail, a pair of ballast moving attachments are mounted at each side of the machine. These attachments include members that seize and hold the'ballast lying beyond the end of the ties and transport it into the region where the rails are supported on the ties.

In principle, the ballast moving devices may consist of any suitable transport means, such as bucket conveyors, scrapers, bucket wheels and the like. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, however, the ballast moving devices comprise pivotally mounted shovels which are attached to the front of the machine carriage adjacent each rail, each shovel being pivotal in a plane perpendicular to the track. Preferably, the range of the .shovels pivotal movement is limited by adjustable stops. The pivot axis of each shovel isadvantageously so arranged above the adjacent rail that the shovel will seize the ballast laterally outside the ties when the carriage moves forward and the shovel is swung outwardly while it will empty the seized ballast above the rail when it is swung inwardly.

' In accordance with yet another preferred embodiment, the axes of rotation of the shovels is adjustable in the direction of the tracks as well as in height. It is desirable for the shovel to be positioned approximately between the next two succeeding ties while the tamper works on one tie. tamping tools and the shovel depends on the tie spacing If the fulcrum of the shovel can be longitudinally adjusted, the machine may be used most advantageously with anytie spacing; On the other hand, it is desirable to make the machine adaptable to different bed heights, which is.

accomplished by making the fulcrum of the shovel vertically adjustable.

The above and other features, objects and advantages: of the present invention will be more fully explained inthe following detailed description of a now preferred ing,

Fig. l is a side view of the front part of a track tamping machine incorporating the ballast moving attachment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a front view, partly in section, of the attach ment; and

Fig. 3 is a perspective front view of the machine shown in Fig. 1.

The illustrated track tamping machine is that of our application Serial No. 462,086, now Patent No. 2,876,709, and all portions thereof, except the ballast moving attachment, are fully disclosed in this prior patent and form no part of the invention. A specific mounting of the ballast moving attachment is indicated by way of ex ample in Figs. 1 and 3, it being clearly within the'skill of the mechanic to arrange the various parts, including cylinder, pipes and motion-transmitting drives, in any suitable and convenient'manne'r.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 1 and 3, there is shown the frontportion of a track tamping machine with a carriage frame 1 freely suspended 'forwardly of front wheels 1" over the ballast to be tamped. The carriage runs on its wheels on tracks 8 mounted on ties 7 which are supported by and partially embedded in ballast 11 which rests on the foundation 12. In a manner well known per se, the tamping tool carrier 3 is vertically slidably supported on posts 2 mounted in carriage frame 1. Eccentric shaft 4 is journaled in the carrier 3 and vibrates the tamping tools 6 by reciprocating or oscillating tool mounting arms 5 when the shaft is rotated. The tamping tools are pivoted to their supporting arms at their upper ends. Intermediate their ends, the tamping tools are linked to devices (not shown, but fully described in our abovementioned application) for forcing the tamping tools of Therefore, the optimum distance between the each pair toward each other. Since these moving devices have nothing to do with the present invention and the entire tamping tool operation is outside its scope, the drawing has been restricted to essential parts of the machine in an eflort to avoid distraction from the features of the invention proper. Tamping is effected by vibrating the tamping tools while simultaneously moving them together to pack the ballast.

All of this structure is conventional and is described here only to provide the necessary background or framework for the attachment of this invention.

This attachment is mounted at the front end of the tamping machine. While only one rail with its associated tamping mechanism is illustrated, it will be evident that an identical mechanism is symmetrically provided in association with the other rail of the tracks. For purposes of mounting the two identical ballast moving attachments in association with each rail, there is provided a crossbeam 1 which is supported by the carriage frames 1. The ballast transporting shovel 9 is attached to a pivotal arm 13 which, in turn, is connected to rotatable axle 14 journaled in crossbeam 1'. The shovels fulcrum 14 has keyed thereto a pinion 15 which is rotatable by rack 16. The rack is movably mounted in guide rail 17 which is fixed to the carriage frame 1. Rack 16 is connected to and supported by piston rod 1-8' integral with piston 18. The piston is slidably movable in a cylinder 19 which is fixedly mounted on the cross beam 1 in any suitable manner, as shown, for instance, in Fig. 2. Compression return spring 20 is mounted in one cylinder chamber to move the piston 18 in one direction, i.e. to pivot shovel 9 outwardly. When it is desired to pivot the shovel inwardly toward the rail, pressure fluid is supplied to the other cylinder chamber to overcome the pressure of the spring. As shown, a pressure fluid conduit 21 is connected to the other cylinder chamber, receiving its fluid supply from any suitable pressure fluid supply (not shown). Such pressure fluid supply is readily available in modern track tamping machines which operate primarily with hydraulic and pneumatic pressure mechanisms.

Stop pins 22 and 23 are mounted for engagement with the pivoting shovel support arm 13 to delimit the maximum pivoting range of the shovel. Preferably, the stop pins are laterally adjustably mounted so that the pivoting range may be adjusted according to requirements.

Also mounted on the crossbeam are scrapers 24 which resiliently engage the upper faces of the ties behind the shovel 9. The scrapers 24 are mounted between the ballast moving attachment and the tamping tools to distribute the ballast moved by shovel 9 into the region of rail 8 evenly between the ties as the machine moves forward from tie to tie during the continuous tamping operation.

The inverted V-shaped sheet metal shield 10 is bolted to the crossbeam and extends longitudinally to protect the rail 8. It distributes the ballast dumped thereon by shovel 9 along both sides of the rail.

The attachment operates as follows:

The tamping machine is moved forward from one tie 7 to the next tie with shovel 9 pivoted into its lowermost position, as shown in the drawing. As is clear from the drawing, the forward movement of the machine will automatically force ballast which lies outwardly of the ties into the shovel. When the machine has reached a position in which the tamping tools 6 are vertically above a tie 7, it is stopped and tamping is initiated in a manner well known per se. While tamping is efiected, fluid pressure is applied through conduit 21 to move the piston and actuate the rack-and-pinion drive which rotates the shovel inwardly to enable it to empty its content of ballast over shield 10, i.e. in the region of the tie to be tamped next. This operation is repeated successively at each tie, thus providing further automation in the tamping operation.

While a preferred embodiment of the ballast moving attachment has been described and illustrated in connection with a specific track tamping machine, it will be clearly understood that many modifications and variations of the described principle of moving needed ballast to the region of tamping may occur to the skilled in the art, particularly after benefitting from our teaching, and that the attachment may be used with different track tamping machines without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What We claim is:

1. In a track tamping machine for tamping ballast under ties on which two rails forming the track are mounted, and comprising a wheeled carriage to travel on the track and tamping tools mounted on the carriage adjacent each rail: a ballast moving attachment mounted at each side of and on the carriage forwardly of the tamping tools, each attachment including a ballast seizing and holding shovel, a rotatable axle substantially parallel to and above the rail, said axle being journaled in the front end of the carriage and said shovel being securely attached to the axle for pivotal movement in a plane perpendicular to and transverse of the track, driving means engaging the axle for rotating said axle to pivot the shovel from a ballast seizing position laterally outside the ties in engagement with the ballast in the roadbed at the end of the ties to a ballast releasing position above the rail, and two stops mounted on the carriage in the path of the pivotal movement of the shovel to delimit said movement and determine the ballast seizing and ballast releasing positions.

2. The track tamping machine attachment of claim 1, wherein each of said stops is mounted for lateral adjustment transversely of the track on the carriage.

3. The track tamping machine attachment of claim 1, wherein said shovel consists of three adjacent walls perpendicular to each other, means connecting the walls together for maintaining them in perpendicular position, one wall being a ballast holding bottom wall and the other two Walls constituting ballast retaining walls, one of said retaining walls facing the rail and the tamping tools, other one of said retaining walls being perpendicular to said one retaining wall.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,358,657 McWilliams s Sept. 19, 1944 2,640,285 Kershaw June 2, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 970,465 France June 14, 1950 

